Where were the characters of Mad Men when Kennedy was shot? Pete and Harry were complaining about work. Don was fighting to find a qualified replacement for Sal. And Duck was sitting a hotel room, where he unplugged the TV when Peggy arrived for their “nooner.”
The phone lines went down at Sterling Cooper. Betty and Carla sat crying and smoking in the Draper’s living room. And spoiled little Margaret Sterling was devastated that the tragedy ruined her wedding, which was a bleak and sparsely attended affair. That cataclysmic event that served as a turning point for the nation was also a turning point for many of Mad Men’s characters.
Betty Breaks Down
Betty was devastated by the president’s death and appalled that her husband suggested keeping their children away from the TV. Don attempted to comfort his wife by repeatedly telling her things would be fine and sending her upstairs to “take a pill and lie down.” Unsurprisingly, Don showed little emotion after the assassination, although he did help himself to his wife’s pills before going to bed.
Despite Betty’s protests, the Drapers attended Margaret’s wedding. Although she gazed longingly at fellow guest Henry Francis, Betty remained with her husband — until the next day, when the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald drove her over the edge and into a car with Henry, who told her he wanted to marry her.
When she returned home, Betty dropped a bomb on her husband. “There’s no point, Don. … I don’t love you,” she said coldly. Although he attributed her statements to her emotional state, Don was far more devastated by Betty’s words than by Kennedy’s death. Wounded, he went to work despite a national day of mourning, where he refused an invitation to watch the funeral with Peggy in favor of retreating to his office alone.
Pete and Trudy Band Together
Before the nation found out that the president had been shot, Pete received some bad news of his own: Ken was being promoted to Senior Vice President of Account Services, while Pete would be Head of Account Management. Pete stormed home, shooting a murderous look at Ken on the way out the door. When he told Trudy the news, she discouraged him from calling Duck and told him to hang in there.
The assassination, however, changed both of their perspectives. When Pete told Trudy about some of his co-workers’ less-than-mournful reactions, she joined in his disdain for Margaret’s wedding — which she had called “business” moments before — and the two of them settled down on the couch to watch TV. After Oswald was shot, Trudy became Pete’s Lady Macbeth, telling him to start gathering his clients in preparation for his departure from Sterling Cooper.
Roger’s Two Young Ladies
Before Kennedy’s death ruined Margaret’s wedding, she insisted that Jane was ruining it by trying to be her friend and buying her an expensive gift. After teaming up with Mona to defuse their daughter’s tantrum, Roger yelled at Jane for disobeying his order to leave Margaret alone, and she responded like a petulant child.
Roger made a valiant attempt to salvage the wedding reception, making a short, charming toast in which he called Mona a “lioness.” After carrying his drunken young wife upstairs, however, he finally revealed how shaken he was when he called Joan, the only person who could comfort him when “nobody else (was) saying the right things.” Perhaps he has finally realized that Jane can’t hold a candle to his ex-wife or his ex-girlfriend.
